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`` Harrison Bergeron `` By Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

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“Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. gives the world a glance at the horrors of enforced equality through its simplistic and blunt storytelling. Stephen Moore and Peter Ferrara discussed in The American Spectator how “Harrison Bergeron” shows how “a society that puts equality ahead of freedom and prosperity will be in the end an unhappy one” (30). Therefore, it is easy to reason that any attempt to craft a utopia through government enforcement will end in only brutality and absurdity. Vonnegut 's dystopian story shows how corruption results from striving to achieve the ideal society as his characters are forced to wear handicaps that limit their citizen rights and their ability to disapprove of government actions. Therefore, Vonnegut’s short story, “Harrison Bergeron,” proves that pure equality is not attainable nor should it be through its portrayal of the unrealistic and illogical notions of taking away one’s individuality, repressing one’s freewill, and allowing government power to outstand the individual. To begin with, human individuality can never be suppressed because people will always flaunt their superior personalities. One prime example in the story is Diana Moon Glampers. Glampers has no known handicaps; however, she is able to “[come] into the studio with a double-barrel ten-gauge shotgun” and “[fire] it twice,” killing Harrison and the ballerina (Vonnegut 5). Glampers immediately declares Harrison a threat and then manages the situation without any

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